The Stick Up
by Luck Laden Lefty
Summary: Crash finds something out about Eddie that wracks his mind


Crash stared at his sibling, unable to formulate a coherent sentence in the wake of what his brother had just told him. He'd asked Eddie to repeat himself, least he'd heard wrong. And Eddie confirmed it a second time, the abhorrent nature of the words he'd just uttered didn't seem to affect him in the slightest. His brother on the other hand, was rendered more or less catatonic.

Crash desperately attempted to recapture his seemingly lost ability to speak, but all thoughts were once again rendered ineffectual as the gravity of his brother's declaration continued to beset his understanding of his sibling. He hadn't even noticed the haze his mind was clouded with until he'd heard a faint voice call out his name, successfully pulling him out of the acrid mist of thoughts the were glutting his mind at the present moment.

"Hey bro, you want a peach?" Eddie asked; completely unaware the effect his revelation was having on his brother. When he receives no response, Eddie scampers back up the tree, peach gripped precariously in his tail. He reaches the branch he was sharing with Crash moments prior and takes the peach in his paws, comically karate-chopping it in half, turning to offer half of the fruit to his brother before lowering his offering at seeing his brother's forlorn expression staring down at the snow below them.

Eddie begins to speak but is cut of by his sibling, who it seems has finally regained the ability to form coherent sentences.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner Eddie?"

Eddie having already refocused his attention on his lunch; responds around a mouth full of peach.

"I didn't think it was that big a deal," a flippant shrug follows his statement as he continues to chew his food.

"Not a big deal!" Crash retorts, obviously peeved at his sibling's nonchalant attitude toward the whole situation. Crash rose from his position and stalked over to where his brother was enjoying his lunch. He grabs the oblivious possum by the shoulders and forces him up against the trunk of the tree, making Eddie both his halves of peach as they land in the snow below them with a soft crunch.

"Bro; listen," Crash says sternly as he stares the now confused possum down, keeping his hands firmly locked on Eddie's shoulders to prevent him from escaping.

"I just want you to know that I still love you like a brother, even if we don't have absolutely everything in common; you'll always be my best bud no matter what." Crash finishes his heartfelt speech and wipes his eyes with the back of his paw.

"Jeez, don't go soft on me crash."

"I just wanted you to know how much you mean to me man…"

Crash looks away with reticently, eyes averted from his brother's gelidly stern expression. Eddie's facial features stay that way for a handful of seconds before he realizes how much what he'd just revealed about himself was affecting his brother, and his mask of bravado melts away almost instantly.

No words need be said as Eddie embraces his brother. Crash is momentarily caught off-guard before he returns the hug with as much verve as his sibling.

"Thanks man."

"No problem bro," Crash whispers.

After separating from the comfort of their mutual embrace, Eddie scampers back down the tree to retrieve the peach he'd dropped before climbing back up again and sitting down. Crash watches him calculatingly for a moment before a paw is thrust in his face, peach resting on its palm. He takes his half of the fruit gingerly and smiles at the gregarious gesture before positioning himself next to his sibling to enjoy his own lunch.

Eddie dives right into his lunch, rending the peach apart with his claws and teeth, emitting almost feral like grunts as he devours his peach. Crash on the other hand does not attack his peach as ravenously as his sibling, but instead stares placidly at it, prompting Eddie to say something.

"You OK man?" He asks, ceasing the salvo of bites on his lunch to look over at his sibling, wearing a worried expression.

"Yeah…I'm fine." Crash responds, looking at the fruit in his paws with a stern stare. "It's just so surreal…I've never met anyone who didn't like pears before." Eddie shrugs at his brother's comment and goes back to eating his lunch. Crash twists and turns the fruit in his paws, vetting it for any possible damage. When he finds none, he pops the fruit into his mouth and chews, and his eyes go wide as saucers.


End file.
